Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 817(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Faces glistened with nervous sweat. Eyes widened. Hands flew to beards and long braids of cherished hair. No pirate wanted to be bald. It was a fate worse than losing a limb.
Priest fastened his breeches, his expression strained with pain. That part wasn’t fake. He’d hurt himself to protect me. None of Madwulf’s men would touch me now.
Every pirate in the room was standing, looking at the exit as if ready to bolt.
“Captain.” An older man burst into the cottage, oblivious to what was unfolding inside. “Cargo’s loaded. She’s ready to weigh anchor, and we got a perfect wind to let her sheets fly and push us straight past the island.”
Madwulf’s glare swung coldly to Priest as he spoke to his crew. “Tell everyone to return to the ship and prepare to weigh. Four of you will stay with me until I finish this.”
No one argued. Most of them looked relieved to not have to handle the diseased prisoners.
As the room scattered, my muscles and joints locked up, bracing for battle. Five of them against the three of us? We could overpower them, especially with the element of surprise. If we killed them quietly, without gunfire, we had a real chance of escape.
“Do you ken what she did the day I met her? When I grabbed her filthy cunt?” Madwulf yanked the neck of his shirt to the side, revealing the fading pinkish imprint of my teeth marks. “I was looking forward to collecting my retribution.” He spat a wet clump of phlegm on the floorboards at Priest’s feet. “You tricked me, libertine.”
Priest stepped over the spittle and bent to collect his weapons. “Perhaps you should learn how to negotiate.”
Ashley had said those exact words to me once.
Careful with the knife, I gripped Ashley’s hands between us and soaked in the calmness on his face. Whatever Priest was up to, Ashley showed no signs of concern.
Warmth filled my chest as I pressed my gagged mouth against his neck in a gesture of oneness. We would live together or die together. The three of us. Their happiness would be the most important thing I ever fought for.
“We had an agreement.” Securing his daggers to his baldric and belts, Priest met Madwulf’s stare. “Fuck her or leave. Either way, the prisoners stay with me. I’m nowhere near finished with them.”
“Cutler is mine. He was never part of the agreement.” Madwulf turned and strolled toward the door, addressing his men. “Kill the pirate hunter.”
“Without a vote, Captain?” the ogre asked.
“Vote if you want. I’m leaving this bloody island.”
My fingers twitched to curl around that bastard’s neck until he soiled his breeches with the stink of fear. I tracked his gait through the cottage, hoping he would stick around long enough to fight me.
The ogre turned toward us and raised the flintlock. “Better move, Miss, or you’ll be eating powder, too.”
He didn’t wait. His fat finger squeezed the trigger. The flint struck the hammer, and nothing sparked. Just as I thought. Not loaded.
Confusion gave the giant pause, and that was our cue.
Ashley and I bounded off the bed.
Pulse booming, I yanked off my gag and scanned the floor for a weapon. Gone. All of them. With a savage curse, I whirled, stumbled, and came face to face with Priest. He tossed me his cutlass and slammed a second blade into the giant’s eye socket.
The clang of steel against steel rang out behind me. Ashley was already engaged in battle.
Raising the heavy cutlass, I searched the cottage for my target, didn’t spot Madwulf, but a nasty-looking fellow was scowling right at me. He would do.
We charged at the same time. As he reached me, I ducked, spun, and sliced the blade across his throat, just like my father had taught me. A second spin, however, had me staring down the barrel of a musket.
This pirate laughed like a rabid dog. I would stab him low, right beneath the ribs. But before my arms were in motion, blood sprayed across my chest.
Priest slid his dagger from the man’s throat, leaned over the falling body, and smacked a hard kiss on my lips. “Missed you terribly, my love.”
“Missed you—”
He was already gone, leaping over another corpse and racing toward the last two men standing.
It was Ashley, still wearing his gag and fighting for his life with a honed intensity that stole my breath. He battled a lean, agile blackguard, who refused to go down. They flew at each other with lethal arcs, hacking, chopping, and wielding their blades with savage purpose.
This wasn’t a nobleman’s sport. It was life and death. Sweat beaded Ashley’s brow. Tendons flexed in his forearms. He was fighting the strongest, fastest pirate I’d seen in years and holding his own impressively.
Priest rushed in behind Ashley, who punched out a bare foot and collided with the enemy’s groin. The kick sent the man stumbling, but he remained on his feet. Ashley renewed his attack with Priest at his side.